Favorite Time of Year

The entire fishing season on Cape Cod is my favorite—it’s tough to pick just one time that stands out. Each different aspect, early season, middle of the season, and end of the season all offer different tactics to fish for Striped Bass on Cape Cod and are all unique. However, the time of season that really stands out to me in the Spring time, when the Striped Bass make their migration North to our waters. The fish are hungry, here in abundance, and aren’t hesitant to hit anything thrown at them.

There’s two tactics I like to choose when fishing for Striped Bass early in season. Those are casting top water lures for them while they are feeding and live lining Mackerel to them around the Barnstable Harbor area.

Typically, the Mackerel show up around the Barnstable Harbor Bell Buoy in middle/end of April. Next, the Striped Bass find them in the first to second week of May.

From when the Striped Bass show, until end of June, the fishing is typically lights out. We go jig up our Mackerel, and then go back into the Barnstable Harbor Channel and live line them. It’s not uncommon to run out of Mackerel that the action is so fast and furious. The fish are aggressive and have no problem feeding up after their long migration North.

Additionally, since the Striped Bass are in feeding mode, we can expect top water feeds throughout the day, not specific to the early AM or evening times. This is particularly fun because not only are small, school sized Striped Bass feeding, but typically older, larger fish will join in them. It offers you a great shot and 30″-40″ Striped Bass on light tackle and it’s a ton of fun.